Fire Mage Frequently Asked Questions — Battle for Azeroth (BfA) 8.1

On this page, we go over several of the most frequently asked questions regarding
Fire Mage in World of Warcraft — Battle for Azeroth Battle for Azeroth (BfA) 8.1.
This will be updated as more common repeated questions surface over the course
of the expansion.

1. Are there any Haste or Critical Strike caps for Fire Mage?

You do not need any specific amount of Critical Strike to make Fire
playable. Due to passives like Enhanced Pyrotechnics and
Critical Mass and talents like Firestarter and
Searing Touch, you can play Fire just fine even on very low Critical
Strike levels, so you do not need to worry about having enough Critical Strike.
Of course having more Critical Strike is not a bad thing, but it is not
required. There is no Critical Strike "cap" at which point more Critical Strike is bad.

Haste is almost always good for both single-target and AoE DPS. There is no
Haste cap for Fire Mages.

Having said that, the best way to determine what items you should use is to
use Raidbots Top Gear

2. How good is Fire Mage in BfA Patch 8.1?

Fire Mage is the best Mage spec for almost all situations in 8.1. For a more
thorough answer, see the spec viability section on the intro page.

3. Which race is best for Fire Mages?

Dark Iron Dwarf is the best race for Fire Mages. However, all races are very
close in DPS. For a full overview of the DPS of every race, check
the simulations page.

4. Should I Use Flame Patch or Living Bomb in Dungeons?

Flame Patch does more DPS than Living Bomb on 3 to 12 targets.
However, the main problem with Flame Patch is the fact
that it forces you to cast Flamestrike to get any use out of it, which
means Flame Patch is less efficient at focusing high priority targets. Because
of this, we suggest using Living Bomb in situations where priority target DPS is
prefered, as it allows you to focus a primary target, but still get very
competitive AoE DPS via the use of Living Bomb and Mastery: Ignite.

5. Should I Use Rune of Power or Incanter's Flow?

Rune of Power and Incanter's Flow are very close in
overall DPS, with Rune of Power being slightly ahead on low movement fights.
Because of this, it is quite hard to figure out when to use which
talent. In general, on a fight with very little movement and other fight
mechanics, Rune of Power is usually the best choice. Below we have listed the
reasons to not run Rune of Power:

There are raid mechanics which you can not plan for in advance that may
cause you to have to move out of your Rune of Power.

There is a lot of movement required on the fight in general.

It is also worth noting that Rune of Power is a lot harder
to play with than Incanter's Flow, so it should not be used when you
are not very comfortable with the spec and fight.